Hot Docs 2015 Review: Planetary

Planetary is quite literally a call to arms for worldwide action to save the Earth. Through a stunning cinematic montage of our planet, director Guy Reid’s feature debut implores us to look at the way we live in a different light and start thinking of ways to preserve our natural habitat.

Reid beautifully shoots both the natural world and the man-made one with equally wondrous awe and makes the contrast between the two one of the film’s central talking points. Also incorporated is real life NASA footage from the Apollo space missions and the entire project is set to a gradually crescendoing yet ethereal score from the music collective Human Suits.

Images from Planetary are narrated by interview snippets from leading scientists, philosophers, spiritual figures and other various thinkers. What they say about our mistreatment of our own home is harsh and extremely important, even if it eventually comes off a little repetitive.

It’s not all one note, though: Reid’s interview subjects also expand to comment on the disconnected way that we all behave around each other, a crucial line of thinking that really gets you to consider your own life choices in a broader way.

Is Planetary essential festival viewing?

Some of the technique may feel a little familiar, but there’s a ton of thought-provoking stuff here. If you don’t really think about the problems we face as a species all that much, then you should definitely be seeing this.

Planetary trailer

About The Author

Somewhere in between seeing a scrappy young hockey team defeat a group of Icelandic behemoths in D2: The Mighty Ducks and jumping when Samuel L. Jackson’s severed arm plays peek-a-boo with Laura Dern in Jurassic Park, my love for movies really started to take control of me. Ever since, I’ve devoured anything film wise that I can get my hands on in a quest to conquer the world of cinema (but not in a violent way or anything). I also semi-occasionally keep up a film blog called Ma Ha’s Magic Film Corner and work behind the counter at the glorious Bay Street Video. Follow me on Twitter @mahahafilm